German cops execute catfish with three gunshots to the head after it attacked swimmers - prompting fury from animal rights groups

Daily Mail​

09-07-2025

German police are facing furious backlash from animal rights groups after shooting a catfish in the head three times.
Officers shot the crazed creature after it was 'driven mad by techno music' and attacked five swimmers in Lake Brombach, Bavaria on June 22.
The victims suffered mild to moderate bite wounds and were treated by emergency teams.
It is believed the Wels catfish, which was around two metres in length and weighed more than 90kg, was provoked by pumping beats from a nearby festival.
After the swimmers were attacked, a guard moved out on his boat in an attempt to guide the culprit away. But this caused further agitation, and the police were called.
Officers made the decision to kill the animal, reasoning that it would be impractical to close the surrounding area and citing the risk to swimmers and festival goers.
A policeman attempted to shoot the fish three times but failed to neutralise it.
Fishermen then managed to hook the animal and pull it to shore, where it was shot dead.
This could have been the end of the saga, but rather than keeping the killing under wraps, the force decided to issue a press release together with a photograph of the officers posing next to the body.
The execution soon went viral and sparked fury from animal rights groups.
The German branch of the organisation Peta announced that it was lodging criminal charges over the 'extremely painful, slow and above all unnecessary and illegal death of the catfish.'
Days later, it transpired that the policeman had not managed to kill the catfish as none of the three bullets had penetrated its skin.
Instead, they had most likely merely stunned the fish, leaving fishermen to administer the final blow roughly 40 minutes later.
The species can grow up to three meters long, weigh 200kg, and live up to 100 years old, but they are not usually dangerous or known for biting.
Fish scientists suggested the animal had probably been trying to protect its eggs during spawning season and that it might have been further agitated by the Burning Beach festival - which was taking place nearby.
Fish are thought to become stressed by persistent or sudden noises.
Sounds can increase their cortisol levels, according to research from the Journal of Experimental Biology.
Professor Robert Arlinghaus, a scientist at the Leibniz Institute for Water Research in Berlin, told local press: 'The catfish stores its spawn near the shore.
'If a swimmer approaches, it sometimes defends the offspring.'
It comes after a husband and wife fishing team have caught a record-breaking catfish that weighed a staggering 150lbs in January.
It took Shaun and Chloe Ing 90 minutes to reel in the eight-foot long fish from Chigborough Fisheries, in Essex, and two friends to lift it from the water.
Upon weighing the enormous marine animal, it was found to have been seven pounds heavier than the existing British record, a 143lb catfish caught in Essex in 2024.
Wels catfish, the type most commonly found in Europe, are generally 3.9ft-5.2ft in length.
The couple said they had just ordered a Chinese takeaway that had arrived as the fish bit the bait, which ended up being ruined in the scuffle.
Shaun said the monster fish was 'unstoppable' after it took his bait.